We were back in downtown Vancouver for a very brief stop, only enough for 2 dinners and one lunch.
One dinner was with a large group of colleagues and needed to be 1) within a short walk of the conference hotel, 2) moderately-priced, and 3) able to accommodate dietary restrictions and some less adventurous palates. We selected Din Tai Fung, the lone Canadian outpost of this Taiwanese chain. Having never been to any other locations, we had no reference point, but we thought the food was very good, the group loved it, and the bill came out to $50 per person. I neglected to take pictures at this meal (most dishes can be seen on the online menu), but here is what we had:
- Cucumber salad with garlic, sesame oil, goji berries - simple and light.
- Wood ear mushrooms in vinegar sauce - also straightforward and good.
- Crab and Kurobuta pork xiao long bao - tasty and very hot broth in a delicate wrapper; probably our favourite.
- Chicken xiao long bao - for the non-pork and non-seafood eaters; this was also very good, with some celery, carrot, and ginger to add different flavours.
- Vegan dumplings in green spinach wrappers, filled with bean curd, baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, glass noodles, and jicama - a hit for the vegetarians and omnivores alike.
- Kimchi and Kurobuta pork dumplings had wrappers infused with kimchi juice and were quite tasty.
- Sticky rice with pork and mushroom shao mai was basically a yummy mash up of two dishes.
- Chicken spicy wontons had very mild kick and were good, if unremarkable.
- 4 vegetable dishes: string beans with garlic, bok choy with scallion-infused oil, Taiwanese cabbage with garlic, kale with garlic - all well-executed.
- Vegan noodles were made with an egg substitute and came with a mildly spicy sesame sauce - pretty decent.
- Noodles with diced beef and Szechuan peppers - not as spicy as advertised, but otherwise nicely flavoured.
- Vegetable and mushroom fried rice - looked boring, but was actually quite enjoyable.
- Shanghai rice cakes with chicken, cabbage, and spinach - fragrant with sesame, this was excellent and required an additional order to satisfy the table.
- Chocolate mochi xiao long bao - basically a riff on a chocolate lava cake and very good.
We skipped off the conference and headed east for lunch at Motonobu Udon. The hand-made udon were wonderful and perfectly textured. We couldn’t stop at 2 bowls and split a third.
MazeMentai was a non-soup option in a pollock roe sauce that was made creamier by mixing in the poached egg. It was topped with beef brisket, wakame, nori, umeboshi, thin strips of fried tofu, green onions, sesame, and chili oil - a flavour-packed extravaganza, with lots of umami.
Goboten TofuWaka came in lovely dashi broth and was topped with burdock tempura, thin strips of fried tofu, wakame, and green onion.
My wife’s favourite was the Curry TamagoToji, another non-broth version with a fragrant Japanese curry sauce, “egg swirl” (delicate strands of egg), to which we added Onsen egg for extra egginess.
Definitely worth a repeat visit.
For our other dinner, we booked Published on Main. The restaurant has a very casual and relaxed atmosphere, more like a neighbourhood restaurant than a Michelin* (which we were fine with). The food was very impressive, creative and lots of interesting flavours, with only a few minor missteps. The alcoholic pairings were great, but only some of the non-alcoholic ones really worked for us.
They started us both off with sparkling sencha with mint and blackcurrant leaf oil, which was fragrant and lovely. For our first non-alcoholic pairing, we had “Non” Australian-brand chamomile and raspberry wine. Our first wine was Valentin LeFlaive, Sigma 20 4.0, NV, blanc de blancs, extra brut, Champagne - extra long on lees, very bready.
We were then served some opening snacks. First up were cured scallops with Granny Smith apple, cucumber, and kohlrabi pearls in a light apple and ginger dressing - clean and simple flavours. The presentation was also great, in a bowl capped with the top of the apple over a large maple leaf.
Then came 3 canapés:
- Sweet spot prawn, wrapped in a peppery nasturtium leaf, with BC citrus kosho.
- Smoked and candied steelhead on barley flatbread and Douglas fir emulsion.
- Maple-cured trout roe in some sort of black cracker with cultured cream, dill and barley - very fresh roe with lots of pop, and presented to look like sushi.
Our next non-alcoholic pairing was smokey lapsang tea with pear and Moon Bay kelp. We also had Kimoto Junmai sake Kodama - banana notes. These accompanied another series of snacks, first meaty albacore with Moon Bay kelp and black truffle condiment, kombu seaweed jelly cubes, and ginger scallion oil.
Then there was 3 more delightful snacks:
- Winter squash, hazelnut mousse, champagne jelly, Kaluga caviar.
- Smoked, garlic-butter-poached Kushi oyster, with preserved tomato condiment, on Mediterranean-style chili crisp.
- Radish pie, comprised of compressed thinly-sliced radishes, steeped in beet tea, vegetable fudge in kelp brisée (tart shell), and horseradish.
Our next pairing was a verjus vinegar (tasted like a sweet clarified gazpacho) and an anonymous sherry with celeriac bitter and olive brine - the latter was the better match for the next dishes. Again there was first a small dish Toasted Hay: sweet egg custard with clarified onion butter, lemony dungeness crab salad, deep fried leek strips on top, and button mushroom strips - gorgeous.
The 3 more little bites:
- Lamb tartare in a rye cracker boat with Maggi mayo, sweet pepper pepperade and nasturtium leaves and flowers - despite a nice combo of flavours, this one was a bit too salty.
- Pork blood sausage, blackcurrant beet and berry jam, pickled beet slices - the jam and beets balanced the richness of the sausage.
- Liver and onions: mini bagel with coarse liverwurst, roasted onion and pear jam, and pickled onion - tasty and cute little deli tribute.
The fourth non-alcoholic pairing was a verjus with yuzu, parsley, cilantro, white cranberry, jalapeño - only OK; a bit too vinegary. Much better was the Poiré Granit: a French pear cider by Eric Bordelet, hand-picked from 300-year-old trees, and yeast fermented in bottle - smelled like pear pie or loaf.
Our next dish was yuzu and butter dashi, with parsley oil, roasted matsutake, and herbs - basically a salty, buttery soup that didn’t quite work, and no piney notes from the matsutake.
Warm two-week fermented potato bread followed, rich and soft, with house-whipped green herb butter.
Light and delicate Manitoba pickerel was bathed in a lovely broth of toasted buckwheat and onions, with roasted brassica topped with toasted morels, and almond mustard soubise - beautiful.
Our next non-alcoholic option was by Baek, a Burgundy Chardonnay, which was then dealcoholized - only OK, more like grape juice in flavour. We also had Envinate Listan Bianco 2023 - amazing, so savoury and mushroomy. Our sommelier seemed disappointed that we had heard of the winery, so he brought us also Vin de Bourgogne, Pinot Noir Prestige, Henri de Villamont 2022, which classic and lovely.
For the last savoury course, we had two non-alcoholic pairings and two wines:
- Cold steeped lapsang souchong tea
- Non cherry and cola lambrusco - a bit sweet, a bit vinegary.
- Micro Cuvée Pinot Noir, Meyer Family Vineyards, Okanagan Valley, 2023 - a bit tanniny
- Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Echo Bay Synoptic, 2022 - also a bit tanniny, with more oak.
The plate focused on Fraser Valley pork: moist chop slices, tender cheek, crisp belly, red cabbage purée, a piece of roasted cabbage with burnt apple purée, pork jus with gherkins, and a side of pork tonkotsu broth beside - many different and delicious shades of porkiness.
As a transition to dessert, they served us DĂ©lice de Bourgogne on pear conserva, in sable tart, with pink peppercorn - a great mix of savoury and sweet.
Our final pairing included a tangy red currant and orange punch and a fortified Pinot Gris from Sage Hills, Okanagan, 2016 - grappa-esque, with nice nuttiness.
Our first dessert was a black sunchoke dilly bar: smooth sunchoke semifreddo in a Manjari chocolate shell (Madagascar, 67% dark), with miso caramel drizzle, and salty sunchoke chips - we could easily have had repeats of these.
Our second dessert was an “aebelskiver” (no skewer in sight), filled with stewed pumpkin, candied pumpkin seeds, sweet diced pickled pumpkin, and red currants, over burnt caramel miso, with koji ice cream beside - a fancy and fun Timbit.
For final treats, we had:
- Sea buckthorn and almond Madeleine-esque cookies
- Apple-ginger pâte de fruit
- Douglas fir fudge - nice evergreen overtones
They gave us a final seabuckthorncello drink, which had a wonderful sour tang. And they sent us home with chocolates (blackcurrant, and strawberry and pickled elderflower) and flax and hemp caramels.
As with every recent Vancouver trip, we went to Botanist Bar for cocktails, which remain inventive, eye-catching, and delicious. As an extra treat, they give you negroni pâte de fruit with each drink. The drinks themselves are steep ($45) and some come with their own little snacks.
Water of Life No. 1: Pale Blue Dot - phycobilin blue algae, local oyster gin, oyster leaf distillate, cucumber, gyokuru green tea, citrus extract, pineapple, dill, rosemary-thyme syrup - lots of cucumber and savoury. This came with a snack of scallop, with foam and caviar, in an edible oyster shell - salty and spicy.
Water of Life no. 2: Ring of Fire - vanilla bean, dry ice, bourbon, rum, melon liqueur, passionfruit distillate, lemongrass - fragrant and tropical, and served dramatically with burning steel wool.
Water of Life no.3: Raincouver Cocktail - vodka, pine aperitif wine, fennel pollen, vegan foam, Perrier, yuzu, topped with an edible helium cloud of cherry blossom and green tea - very cool presentation, but not quite as interesting in terms of flavours.
Water of Life no. 4: Earth’s Energy - blanco tequila, local vermouth, amaro chiaro, elderflower, chamomile, apple cider vinegar, kiwi, and electric daisies buzz buttons - lots of contrasting floral elements and a light display fueled by magnets in the base. This also came with a snack of vegan taco (wild mushrooms, XO sauce, radish greens and flowers) that my wife ate before the picture was taken.
All this drinking made us peckish for some snacks. Dungeness Crab Chawanmushi - vegetable pearls, crab consommé, ginger, seaweed, shiitake broth, flowers, angelica and other little herbs - nothing like chawanmushi, but very lovely with sweet crab.
Olive oil-poached halibut with sidestripe shrimp, chicories, shellfish emulsion, sweet succotash with lovely corn - delicate halibut, plump shrimp, and a rich sauce.
